Association and Enlightenment: Scottish Clubs and Societies, 1700-1830(Studies in Eighteenth-Century Scotland)

Social clubs as they existed in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Scotland were varied: they could be convivial, sporting, or scholarly, or they could be a significant and dynamic social force, committed to improvement and national regeneration as well as to sociability. The essays in this volume examine the complex history of clubs and societies in Scotland from 1700 to 1830. Contributors address attitudes toward associations, their meeting places and rituals, their links with the growth of the professions and with literary culture, and the ways in which they were structured by both class and gender. By widening the context in which clubs and societies are set, the collection offers a new framework for understanding them, bringing together the inheritance of the Scottish past, the unique and cohesive polite culture of the Scottish Enlightenment, and the broader context of associational patterns common to Britain, Ireland, and beyond.

Table of Contents:
Foreword List of Abbreviations Introduction Part I: The Theory and Practice of Associational Life Chapter 1: Politeness, Sociability, and the "Little Platoon": Associational Theory in the Scottish Enlightenment David Allan Chapter 2: Buildings, Associations, and Culture in the Scottish Provincial Town, c.1700‒1830                 Bob Harris                                                                                                               Part II: Professional Men and Their Societies Chapter 3: Medical Societies and the Scottish Enlightenment                                                                 Jacqueline Jenkinson        Chapter 4: Professors, Merchants and Ministers in the Clubs of Eighteenth-Century Glasgow Ralph McLean            Part III: Clubs, Societies, and Literary Culture                                                      Chapter 5: "Soaping" and "Shaving" the Public Sphere: James Boswell's "Soaping Club" and Edinburgh Enlightenment Sociability James J. Caudle                                                                                                                             Chapter 6: The "Bohemian Club": A Study of Edinburgh's Cape Club                                                        Rhona Brown                                                                                                                 ­Chapter 7: "Caledonia's Bard, Brother Burns": Robert Burns and Scottish Freemasonry             Corey E. Andrews                                                 Chapter 8: Inventing the Public Sphere: Fictional Club Life in Ireland and Scotland                          Martyn J. Powell                     Part IV:  Gender and Associational Culture                    Chapter 9: Achieving Manhood in Associational Culture: Student Societies and Masculinity       in Enlightenment Edinburgh Rosalind Carr                                                                                                                     Chapter 10: Women's Associations in Scotland, 1790‒1830                                            Jane Rendall                                                                                                                      Acknowledgments Bibliography               Notes on Contributors                                                                                                                Index  

About the Author :
Mark Wallace is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.  Jane Rendall is an honorary fellow of the History Department and the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies at the University of York (UK). 

Review :
"[A] useful new perspective on the era of the Scottish Enlightenment that offers readers much stimulating material and many insightful interpretations." - David Spadafora, author of The Idea of Progress in Eighteenth-Century Britain "The editors have brought together a volume that explores all that we have discovered about the place of clubs and societies in Scotland during the long eighteenth century, answering many of the questions posed so long ago in Davis D. McElroy's pioneering study of 1969. Bucknell has published what will be a lasting and essential work." - Stephen Brown, co-editor of Edinburgh History of the Book in Scotland: Enlightenment and Expansion 1707-1800 "Handsomely produced." - Eighteenth Century Scottish Studies Society newsletter